


A Viera's Journey: FFXIV Writes 2020

by RainbowMagicMarker



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: FFxivWrite, FFxivWrite2020, Gen, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020, Yjrn, ffxiv write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26253862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowMagicMarker/pseuds/RainbowMagicMarker
Summary: A collection of stories based on the daily prompts from FFXIV Writes at https://sea-wolf-coast-to-coast.tumblr.com/
Kudos: 1





	1. Crux

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'll be participating in FFXIV Writes this year to the best of my ability. I've been pretty down lately (who hasn't with 2020?) and feel the need to shake off some dust by just writing literally anything. Since I've started playing FFXIV recently this seemed like a good way to get started!

Running her fingers through her red hair, the viera woman stared into the mirror. Carefully she un-wove the braid that generally hung over her shoulder and ran a brush through the short strands at the back of her head. When she had first left the Golmore Jungle, her hair had been long, hanging past her shoulder blades. It quickly became impractical to keep up in her wanderings, and she had cropped it down, keeping only the piece that hung over her shoulder as a reminder of what used to be.

A sigh escaped her as her fingers brushed back her ears and smoothed down the red locks. Purple highlighted the tips of her ears and wove through her bangs, through the braid, it had seemed a good idea at the time. It distanced her from her home, a visual signal that she was no longer part of the village. Part of the Forest.

Yet she knew why she was here, it was not because she had abandoned The Wood, or because she no longer felt the Mist. Quite the opposite, it was the Mist that compelled her here. The Aether, as these Eorzean's called it.

That was the crux of the issue, but not the end of it. Letting go of the past and embracing the future, or abandoning her origins to pretend at something else. There was also the fact that she had created an image for herself, intentionally or not, while her time with the Scions. People recognised her. Strangers recognised her. Would they still do so if she went through with this?

Yjrn braced herself and reached for the bell. The loud man was a necessary evil to this plan. Jandelaine meant well but he could be... overbearing.

"I think it's time for a change in colour." She spoke briskly, hoping to stop him from getting carried away.


	2. Sway

Some days, when the world could do without her for a moment, she would return to Gridania. She would wander into the deepest parts of the Black Shroud and she would find herself a place in the trees far above the ground, and she would listen. Listen to the creaking of swaying trees, listen to the songs of birds. Listen to the wind moving through leaves. High up above the floor of the forest she found comfort and reprieve. You could take her out of The Wood but you could not take The Wood from her.

She listened to the Mist.

She told herself that she did not regret her choices. She stubbornly insisted she did not regret leaving. But when shew as up in the trees of the Shroud pretending she was home in the Golmore Jungle, she allowed herself just a tiny bit of regret. It was hard not to regret, leaving behind you knew and loved and being forever forbidden to return. She did not want to return, but she would have liked to visit sometimes. That was denied to her now, and she had known it would be.

Maybe regret was not the word. Perhaps remorse. Or nostalgia. Missing something from the past didn't have to mean wanting it back.

Did it?

In the swaying branches of the trees, with eyes closed and ears twitching, she pondered this question.

Did it?


End file.
